Charmed
by popcorn
Summary: Lily is working in the Charms department for the ministry, when she is forced to work with James on a project.
1. Chapter 1

Ok, hi. This is my first long fic, so yeah. Um, just read and review. I'll continue it if you like it, and I won't if you don't. I'm sorry if this sucks, because I'm supposed to be writing a report right now.  
  
Disclaimer- Any of the characters and settings and names you recognize belong to JK Rowling. I only own the characters/names/settings that you don't recognize (Mindy, Sherry, Ira, Bernard, Greg).  
"Bernard Hayworth! Get your arse over here this minute!" Lily screamed over her desk, tapping her quill impatiently. A disheveled, blond, man poked his head into the room.  
  
"You rang?" He smiled, used to Lily's often tempers.  
  
"What the hell happened to Ira and her team? They were supposed to research the shielding charms, and they end up with THIS?" Lily held up a manilla folder, disgusted. She flipped it open and read the contents.  
  
"Special charm for extra long color for lip sticks- in red, pink and peach- WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" she bellowed, loosing her cool.  
  
Bernard covered his ears.  
  
"IS THIS WHAT YOUR STAFF HAS BEEN DOING- INSTEAD OF IMPORTANT CHARMS FOR THE AURORS?" she screeched. Bernard looked sheepish for a moment before cautiously removing his hands from his ears.  
  
"Well, you see, it is on their own time, and-"  
  
"I don't care if it's on their own time- they should have finished the experiment on the shielding charm, not this stupid crap!" Lily closed the folder and handed it over to Bernard.  
  
"But on the bright side, Miss Evans, you could sell the patent to the makeup companies and make some extra money." Bernard suggested. Lily scowled.  
  
"One. We don't need the extra money. Two. But we will if your frickin' team doesn't come up with those charms soon. And three. You better get over there and tell them that if they don't do some actual work, they'll be fired. We're so busy, and there isn't any time to mess around. For God Sake! People and aurors are dying all around or getting hit with curses because they have insufficient protection against them. So tell them that it's more important than they're makeup and get them working!" She breathed deeply after her speech, looking at Bernard with a stern expression.  
  
"Yes, ma'am!" Bernard said, with a straight face, then dashed off, holding the folder and whistling.  
  
Lily sighed in frustration and slammed her head against the desk, once, twice, three times. Arabella, or Bella, her best friend for nearly twelve years walked in cheerfully.  
  
"Lily darling, you really should loosen up about work; banging her head against the desk won't solve anything- not to mention lose some brain cells." Bella stated, shaking her head.  
  
"I have the most stupid people to supervise- they can't do anything right! It's like working with a pile of rocks." Lily groaned, reaching for her mug of coffee, but Bella grabbed it away from her.  
  
"That's a no-no, Lily. It's nine o'clock and so much caffeine isn't good for one of your small size. I don't want you ranting at two o'clock in the morning. Anyway, you've already had two cups." Lily glared at her friend before setting down her paperwork and quill.  
  
"What are you here for?" She eyed Bella suspiciously, lips pursed. Bella only shook her head and grinned sweetly.  
  
"You work too much. Ever since you became head, you haven't had a break. We're going out tonight, to meet some boys."  
  
"Bella," Lily started, annoyed, "you already have a boyfriend."  
  
"No, dear. For you. Must I point out that you haven't had a date in one year?" Lily grumbled and grabbed some paper, before scribbling furiously on it.  
  
"Look, I have tons of work. Go with George and have a good time, okay?"  
  
"It's Greg, Lily, Greg. See? You never have any fun. In fact, your no fun at all, since you got this job. We need to catch up, anyway, and I'll fill you in on the latest bit of gossip. I promise we'll have fun."  
  
Lily looked between Bella and her tall stack of papers, as if she was torn between the two. "Decisions, decisions." she mumbled. "I don't think so. I have lots to do tonight."  
  
"I know this really hot guy who wants to meet you." Arabella offered.  
  
"Goody." Lily muttered. "But I have lots of work to do-"  
  
"I'll help you with it." Bella suggested sweetly.  
  
"Good God, no. You'll just screw everything up." Lily knew that there was no way out, especially when Bella's mind was set. She slowly and deliberately set down her papers and stuffed them into a cabinet. Bella watched her.  
  
"I guess I'll go. After all, it is Friday." She announced, at last. Bella looked at her, satisfied. "Then let's go. We'll go down to the flat, and get you dressed."  
  
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Lily asked, frowning. Bella shook her head again.  
  
"Work has definitely been getting to you way too much. I mean, you've lost your sense in fashion."  
  
Lily scowled and smoothed down her black skirt and white blouse.  
  
"But that's ok, because I'm sure these are just your work clothes." Bella added hastily, sensing Lily's disgruntled temper. She grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her out of the chair, impatiently and dragged her out of the office.  
  
"Bye Sherry! Make sure you stack her paperwork- it's a bloody mess." Bella commented to the secretary. Sherry nodded.  
  
"And make sure that Ira gets the charms done by tomorrow and tell her I'll have her head if she-" Lily called after, taking her purse and following Arabella out of the building.  
"So where are we going?" Lily asked curiously after being shoved into her bedroom. Arabella ignored her as she dug into her closet, pulling out dresses and robes out, clucking her tongue in disapproval.  
  
"Honestly, darling. You have nothing to wear."  
  
Lily protested and glared. "I do have clothes to wear, and they're fairly fashion able as well. You're just looking in the wrong closet."  
  
Bella turned to her and rolled her eyes as she crossed the room and opened the other closet, which stood near the bathroom. She peered inside and looked at everything for a few minutes before finally pulling out a dark blue dress, low cut, short and sleek, with thin straps.  
  
"You are going to wear this!" Bella declared triumphantly. Lily looked at the dress and frowned.  
  
"Isn't this sort of oh, I don't know, SKIMPY, Arabella Figg?" She asked threateningly. Arabella took the dress into her hands and pushed her into the bathroom and locked the door with her wand.  
  
"I'm not going to wear it!" Lily called through the door.  
  
"Here's the deal, honey. I won't let you out until you change into that thing, ok? Remember, I have your wand." She twirled the willow wand around in her fingers, smirking as she heard Lily shout angrily through the door.  
  
"You let me out THIS INSTANT, Figg, before I have to rearrange your face!"  
  
"No can do, sweetie. Remember the key word: wand." Arabella left the bedroom and went to find something to eat, ignoring Lily's screeches.  
  
Fifteen minutes later, she returned. "Are you done?"  
  
"You little bugger." Was Lily's reply. Bella chuckled.  
  
"Okay then. I'm going to unlock it. You have put on your makeup, right?"  
  
"Yes, yes, NOW LET ME OUT!"  
  
Bella swished her wand. "Alohomora!" and the door flew open. Lily burst out, peeved and deliberately stepped on Bella's feet before looking for shoes. Bella studied Lily. Yes, she did look good. Gorgeous, in fact- the dress fit her very well. Lily could have easily become a model, with her coppery red hair, slender figure and shocking green eyes, if she hadn't gone into the ministry.  
  
"You look lovely, dear." Arabella commented. Lily muttered death threats under her breath.  
  
"Thank you, Bella." She said in an overly sweet tone.  
  
"This is the night where you'll actually find a boy friend." Bella sang, looking dreamy eyed. "Lily and whatever his name- what a cute couple!"  
  
"Yeah, if I don't scare him away or murder him first."  
  
"With that dress on, I think not." Bella grinned.  
The club was loud and noisy, and Lily didn't like it at all.  
  
"Bella, why the hell did you take me here? The music is crap, I hate dancing, I don't drink alcoholic beverages except wine, and where is the guy that you wanted me to meet?" Lily asked, annoyed. Bella only smiled and danced off to get a drink. Lily scowled and shrunk over in the corner, sulking and hiding away from any male who wanted a dance with her.  
  
She sighed, wishing she had stayed at the office and didn't take Bella's stupid advice. Taking out her purse, she searched for a pad of paper and a pen, and began scribbling down new incantations for another charm since there was nothing better to do. Perhaps she could test out the invisibility one out on herself and scare some people.  
  
Arabella came over, margaritas in hand, looking critically at Lily's notes. She set the margarita in front of her, a bit of the sour liquid spilling onto the paper. Lily looked up, grumpy and continued writing.  
  
"Here, honey, drink." Bella sipped her drink before grabbing the papers from the table and stuffing them back into Lily's purse.  
  
"No working tonight." She said sternly. Lily glared.  
  
"Then what am I supposed to do?" she asked.  
  
"Go dance with a some hot guy. I met a very nice one over at the bar. And he's single." Bella offered. Lily rolled her eyes.  
  
"You know I don't dance. What happened to the guy that you said I would meet?"  
  
Bella looked sheepishly at the floor, stirring her drink around.  
  
"What? What's wrong?" Lily asked, puzzled.  
  
"Er, you see, it was just an idea, you know, to get you to go." Bella admitted. Lily bit her lip in irritation. "But there are lots of other nice, hot guys around." She added.  
  
"You prat." Lily pulled out her papers and began scribbling again. After a minutes, she looked up. "I'm leaving. This is crap." She stood up, but Bella grabbed her purse.  
  
"Nope. You're not going anywhere," at this point, she held up the purse containing Lily's keys and wand, "until you actually go and socialize."  
  
Lily lunged at Bella, but Arabella stepped aside just in time and hurried away into the crowd, snickering. Lily was fuming and went back to the table to sit down.  
  
"And I call her my best friend." She grumbled moodily, finally tasting the margarita and watching the dancers.  
  
Lily sat there for some time, before a man approached her. He was tall, with blue eyes and black hair, rather handsome, too. He stopped right in front of her and smiled flirtatiously, oozing charm. She rolled her eyes.  
  
"What do you want?" she demanded rudely. He only smiled again.  
  
"I would like to know if I could have the pleasure of dancing with you." He replied.  
  
Lily snickered on the inside, before saying very innocently, "Why Sirius Black, I never knew you had the hots for me, your fellow Gryffindor!"  
  
Sirius looked at her, gaping, before he came to his senses. "Lilac Evans?" he asked stupidly.  
  
"Lily, you stupid prat." She corrected, inspecting her nails.  
  
"Wow. I haven't seen you in years." He looked her up and down in amazement.  
  
"Yes, fortunately."  
  
"You look different." He commented.  
  
"Yes. What you mean is I don't look like that scraggly, carroty, ugly, flat-chested thing I was back at Hogwarts."  
  
"Erm, yeah- er no!" Sirius stumbled, still staring at her.  
  
"Well, get over it, Black, because I have no intention of dancing, or looking at you." Lily said, remembering how much he and his cronies had picked on her during her school years. All the hostility was still there, pent up. She took her drink and splashed it into his face.  
  
"Oh, and that was for when you turned my owl into a pumpkin." She informed him.  
  
"I didn't mean anything when we teased you!" Sirius called at her retreating back. Lily snorted and stomped off onto the dance floor, looking for Arabella.  
  
She found Arabella at the bar, sitting on a stool, chatting to another girl about their jobs. Lily ran up to her and grabbed her bag.  
  
"We're leaving. Now." She hissed, and pulled her off the stool. Arabella gave the other girl an apologetic look.  
  
"Sorry Mindy, I got to go." She waved and followed Lily out of the club and into the street, where they headed into a small alley to apparate.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Bella asked, curious and slightly agitated.  
  
"Sorry. You see, I had a nasty encounter with Sirius Black." Lily explained, grinding her teeth.  
  
"Sirius?" Bella asked. He had been her crush at Hogwarts, before she had met Greg.  
  
"Yes, you dolt. Black. At first he didn't recognize me, and he realized that it was dorky Lily, or Lilac, as he said, Evans, he began to gape, that stupid git." Lily conveniently forgot to tell Bella how she had dumped her drink on him, since Bella always had a soft spot for the boy.  
  
"What does he look like now?"  
  
"Like before. Stupid idiot." Lily muttered, pulling out her wand. "This was a bad idea, Bella. Next time we decide to go out to have some 'fun', let's go to the Philharmonic or something interesting. You have really dumb ideas." Lily insulted. Bella just smiled cheerfully. 


	2. Chapter 2

Second chapter. Read and review, thanks. Um, that's all I have to say. Oh, and please no flames.  
  
Disclaimer- I don't own any characters/names/settings that you recognize. They belong to JK Rowling.  
Lily woke up and stared groggily out the window. It was bright- too bright for six o'clock Monday morning. She groaned and rolled over. Pulling off the covers, she got out of her warm bed and headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face.  
  
"Hi Sherry. Sorry I didn't come in on Saturday- I was too tired. Did Ira turn in the charm files?" She asked her secretary impatiently. Sherry nodded and bent down to search for the folder. After a moment, she resurfaced and handed it to Lily.  
  
"This is it. Ira turned it in on Friday at eleven twenty nine. She was very afraid that she'd loose her job."  
  
Lily smirked, satisfied that Ira had actually worked. She took the file and opened it, carefully reading what was inside, pleased. "If that ninny-pinny spent more time on her work than on her face, she'd be good. Tell her that she did a decent job, and that I won't fire her- yet."  
  
Sherry smiled and hurried off to tell her friend Ira of the good news- a near compliment from Lily, the icy head of the department.  
  
Lily closed the folder and went into her office to find her usual cup of espresso sitting on the desk, along with new experiments. She took a large sip of the hot and very strong coffee (she loved her daily jolt of caffeine) and attacked the stack of papers. It was a good morning so far, for a Monday at least. Lily sat there for hours, undisturbed, looking through documents and making plans.  
  
Some one was knocking at the door. Preoccupied and annoyed that her silence and work mode had been destroyed, Lily answered irritably, "Come in."  
  
And to her horror, it was the Minister of Magic, Mr. Edward Bartley. Lily jumped up from her seat in shock and stood up. Mr. Bartley smiled and came up to the desk.  
  
"Mr. Bartley! I wasn't expecting you!" She exclaimed. Mr. Bartley chuckled and took a seat in front of her desk.  
  
"Ms. Evans," he began, looking at the pile of papers on her desk with interest, "I've just come to tell you that Mr. Hugle of the Magical Defense department had to leave today because of a family emergency- you see, his great uncle's cousin died."  
  
"Oh." Lily said, rather surprised. She had been planning this meeting for sometime, and it was important that the Aurors were informed about the shielding charm.  
  
"They were a tight-knit family." Mr. Bartley replied to her surprised expression.  
  
"So the meeting will be canceled?" she asked, annoyed and uncertain. He shook his head.  
  
"No. Mr. Hugle will be finding one of his top Aurors to speak with you. It's too important; this information must be spread as soon as possible to help our side against Voldemort."  
  
"Oh. Of course. I'm sure that Mr. Hugle will choose someone reliable." Lily said. Mr. Bartley nodded.  
  
"So the meeting will take place as planned, today, at one o'clock."  
  
"Yes, but how should I know who?" Lily asked.  
  
"He'll meet you in the lobby here, and he'll probably be the only one."  
  
"Thanks for telling me. I'm glad this meeting hasn't been canceled." Lily said, and Mr. Bartley nodded.  
  
"Goodbye, Ms. Evans." He left and Lily called goodbye after him.  
  
I wonder who it'll be, Lily thought to herself, preoccupied.  
It was exactly one o'clock when Lily headed down the lobby of the Charms department. She looked around and saw only a few people- an old witch with leopard print stretch pants, a man mopping the floor, a security wizard, and a young man, standing in the corner. She looked at him and caught his eye. He smiled and came over to him. The man was tall and well built, with messy jet-black hair and gray eyes. Even Lily had to admit he was very, very handsome. And then it hit her.  
  
"Are you Ms. Evans?" he asked politely. Lily's eyes opened widely.  
  
"JAMES POTTER?" She asked, gaping. James chuckled at her expression.  
  
"Yes, I think that's me."  
  
Lily stood for a moment, shocked, displeased and surprised, before regaining her senses. She took her bag and swung it into his knees, causing James to cry out in pain. He looked at her as if she was batty.  
  
"What the hell was that for?" he asked, indignant.  
  
Lily smirked. "That was for when you turned my owl into a pumpkin, you great prat."  
  
James looked at her for a moment, studying her in a way not unlike Sirius. "You look great."  
  
Lily raised an eyebrow. "You're actually complimenting me? Wow, the assinus maximus just complimented me, after tormenting me for what, seven years?" Lily answered sarcastically. James could see that she was annoyed.  
  
"Look, I'm sorry that you're dealing with past issues right now, but we have to get over to the Defense department." He said.  
  
"And you think that I'm actually going to forget how you tormented me? I'm not, but I've got a job to do and this is the only reason why I'm actually going to tolerate you." Lily informed him. James just scowled.  
  
"And how on earth did you get to be in such a high position in the ministry?" she asked.  
  
"Because of my talent in Defense against the dark arts and transfiguration. I am, for your information, one of England's top aurors and favorite of Mr. Hugle." James said smugly. Lily glared and "accidentally" stepped on his foot.  
  
"Aren't we mature?" he asked grumpily, but quickly stopped when Lily sent him another death glare.  
  
"What about you, miss carrot? How did you get here too?" he questioned. Lily scowled again at him as they crossed the lobby and out the door to the apparation point.  
  
"I applied for a position in the Charms department, Mrs. Moffat liked me and saw that I had talent, and then she left me in charge so that she could move to France." Lily explained simply, smiling at James's sulking face. "You know, studying did come in handy after all."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."  
  
They came to a point sheltered by some tall trees before they apparated to James's office. Lily followed James in silence into the office and they soon came to a large, white room that had no windows and one door, with only two chairs and a table in it. It gave a strange bright glow.  
  
"Come in. This is where we are going to discuss the charm." James said as he motioned towards the table. Lily entered and the door shut behind them, locking by itself.  
  
"The room's under a spell," James explained, "so that we'll be able to tell if anyone is eaves dropping on us- especially if they're on the dark side. And they're also alarms to warn us if danger's approaching."  
  
"I know." Lily said, as she pulled out a wad of papers from her briefcase, spreading them out around the desk.  
  
"It has come to the ministry's notice," she began, pointing to a piece of paper, "that the protecting spells that the aurors use are rather weak. There are other spells to be used that are stronger, but they take too much time to create, as they are highly powerful."  
  
James nodded.  
  
"So the Charms department, in association with the Defense apartment, has managed to create a simple, but powerful shielding charm, that has the Latin derivative of 'save', as it had the best affects. It can repel all hexes, jinxes, and curses, except for a few, including the killing curse, the cruciatus curse, and the imperius curse. Further research is still needed, however, to determine other weak points." Lily finished.  
  
James looked at the papers curiously, pulling them up in front of his face and studying them. "Does anyone else know about these charms?"  
  
Lily shook her head, in a smug manner. "Only several people: you, me, Ira Law, Bernard Hayworth, Mr. Bartley, Mr. Hugle, and my secretary. And I assure you, that all of these are trustworthy people, even if Ira is shallow as a dishpan."  
  
"Are there plans for releasing it into the general public yet?"  
  
"Not for a while, but we're allowing aurors to use it because it hopefully will help. We hopefully will keep it secret for a while so that the aurors will get the upper hand against those dratted Death Eaters. So what do you think?" Lily asked, putting aside all her anger and resent.  
  
James looked impressed. "I hate to say it, carrot, but you did a good job. I hope it works. Being an auror myself, and a very good one too, (Lily muttered something like 'egotist' under her breath) it feels a lot safer to know that there is some defense that is quick and easy."  
  
"Of course." Lily said, pleased that James had complimented her work, because she had done most of the research and the rest of her staff had only fine-tuned and tested the charm.  
  
"I also have been working on a truth charm. It's in its simplest form, but it still works though it has some rough spots."  
  
"Is this another project the department has been working on too?" James questioned.  
  
"No, I came up with it myself on my own time." Lily said shaking her head.  
  
"Then you must have absolutely no life." Lily glared at him fiercely.  
  
"I do too!" Lily protested. "In fact, I went clubbing last night."  
  
"Yes, and you dumped a margarita on Sirius's head. Classic." James retorted, lips upturned. Lily looked at him sulkily.  
  
"He deserved it, that stupid git."  
  
"You're just the same- all work and no play. Completely boring." James yawned lazily. And Lily growled.  
  
"You prat. Take that back!"  
  
"I'm just stating the truth." James replied, innocently. "You're so boring. And you never had a social life."  
  
"You say I'm just the same as I always was? Well, you're just the same as well then- an immature, egotistical, bigheaded, ass! I've never been able to say this, but now I can, since I'm grown and you, Mr. I'm-so- fabulous Potter, cannot pick on me now. I HATE YOUR FRICKIN' GUTS!" Lily screamed, losing her temper, as she slammed her fist against the table. All her anger at him through the years came rushing out in those few sentences. James sat there, looking shocked.  
  
Lily glared at him one last time, before shutting her briefcase and storming out of the room, leaving the papers with James. She was so angry now- that blasted James Potter! She marched down the hall and down the stairs into the lobby and out the door, where she reached the apparating spot. Several birds were there, pecking at a hotdog that had fallen down on the ground.  
  
"SHOO, DAMNIT!" Lily bellowed, scaring the birds and several children nearby away. She took out her wand and disappeared into the air, arriving back at her office. What a horrible meeting with Potter. What a horrible day.  
Sorry if the spacing is sorta weird. 


End file.
